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January 22, 2014

Ike's Father: Mets Have Really Screwed Up

Ike Davis' father, former MLB pitcher Ron Davis, had some choice words to say about the Mets' handling of his son during this offseason. He described the team as having painted themselves into a corner with all of the public trade talk surrounding Ike, only to end up stuck with him in the end. From Anthony McCarron's article in the New York Daily News:

His dad... clearly didn’t like the public way the trade played out in the media.

“I think that’s why the Mets have really screwed up in that situation, because they’ve publicly done it so much,” he said. “It’s saying to my son, ‘Hey, we don’t want you anymore.’ So I think they backed themselves into a corner saying, “We want to trade you, but we want X amount.’ ”

But with Milwaukee, once a potential trade partner, signing Mark Reynolds and Lyle Overbay, the Mets are “in a situation like, ‘Well, heck, we may have to keep him now,’” Ron Davis said.

“Like I told him: I was released three times, I was traded three times and sold once to Japan. So, who cares?” Ron Davis said. “It’s part of the game. I told him: You’re like a piece of hamburger meat, just sitting there at the grocery store..."

Well... he's not wrong. And at the same time, I hate that he decided to share these comments with the press. The relationship between Ike and the team was already going to be pretty strained come Spring Training, and having his father inject himself into the scenario does nobody any good.

At some point, every player faces the reality that baseball is a business, however. Jose Reyes was traded. Derek Jeter had to threaten to test the free agency market to get his last contract with the Yankees. It all still comes down to money at some point. With his middling talent thus far, it was bound to hit Ike hard sooner rather than later. We just have to hope he can put it behind him and not let it effect him. There are plenty of guys in the league who don't play for the front office, and plenty of other reasons to strive to be better. For the fans, for your manager, for your teammates. If none of that gets you going, play for yourself, your pride, your next contract. I'm not worried about Ike being motivated to play. I just don't know how much that matters unless he can fix his swing.

1 comment:

I will say this once again, Ike could outfield Duda in his sleep. Duda couldn't catch a cold. Ike can hit better as well. But as usual the METS do not know how to treat players. Lets look back at people we traded away because they were as they said old and past their time. Cone, Gooden, Strawberry, Pagan, Beltran, to name a few. And can you tell me what happened with the new teams they played for? CHAMPIONSHIPS and great seasons for all the players. Is it a fluke? No its because they went to teams that know how to treat their players. So LISTEN and LISTEN GOOD. IKE will perform, just give him so confidence instead of taking it from him.